The Church Flashcards
All 20 cards in this deck
Who was Lanfranc?
An Italian monk, abbot of Caen in Normandy, made Archbishop of Canterbury in 1070, replacing Stigand. He led the Normanisation and reform of the English Church.
True or false? In Norman England the Church was completely separate from royal government.
False. Bishops and abbots were tenants-in-chief who held land from the king, advised him and, being literate, helped run his administration.
Who was Stigand?
The Anglo-Saxon Archbishop of Canterbury, deposed by William I in 1070 and replaced by Lanfranc.
Give one way Lanfranc reformed the Church in England under William I.
He set up separate Church courts so that churchmen were tried by the Church rather than in the king's courts.
Give one reason the Church had political influence in Anglo-Saxon England.
Any one of: leading bishops always sat in the Witan, advising the king; very few people could read or write, so churchmen acted as the king's clerks and kept his records.
Why was Stigand criticised as Archbishop of Canterbury?
He was a pluralist, holding the bishopric of Winchester as well as Canterbury, and was accused of simony: giving out Church posts in return for money.
What was the Investiture Controversy?
The dispute over whether the king or the Pope had the right to appoint (invest) bishops — at heart, whether Church or state was superior.
Who was Anselm?
A pupil of Lanfranc, appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by William II in 1093 after the king fell seriously ill; he was exiled in 1097.
Why did William II leave Canterbury without an archbishop after Lanfranc died in 1089?
So he could keep the income from the archbishopric's Church lands for himself.
What was Peter's Pence?
A tax of one penny per household paid to the Pope, which William I continued and enforced in England.
How did relations with the Papacy change after 1073?
They deteriorated when Pope Gregory VII became Pope and insisted the Church was superior to the king; Lanfranc helped William resist this claim.
Give two features of Norman Romanesque cathedral architecture.
Any two of: rounded arches, thick round columns, high ceilings, wide aisles and transepts, rib vaulting (as at Durham).
Give one way Norman cathedrals helped the Normans control England.
They were huge stone buildings placed near centres of population, symbolising Norman power and helping to pacify the conquered.
What did William I do with much of the wealth of the English Church?
He sent large amounts back to Normandy to reward monasteries for their prayers and support in the Conquest, while also spending heavily on rebuilding English cathedrals.
What did Norman kings expect of newly appointed bishops?
That they pay homage to the king, keeping the national Church under royal rather than papal control.
Give one abuse Lanfranc tried to stamp out in the English Church.
Any one of: simony, pluralism, nepotism, married clergy.
What was the Primacy of Canterbury?
Lanfranc's reform, backed by William I and agreed at Winchester in 1072, which made the Archbishop of Canterbury head of the whole English Church, above the Archbishop of York.
By 1087, how many bishops in England were Anglo-Saxons?
Only one, Wulfstan of Worcester. William had replaced the others with Normans and other continental churchmen, although most parish priests stayed English.
Roughly how much of England's land did the Church hold by 1086?
About a quarter, as Domesday Book recorded. That made leading churchmen among the richest and most powerful landholders in the kingdom.
What happened at the Council of Rockingham (1095)?
It met to settle William II's quarrel with Archbishop Anselm, who had recognised Urban II as Pope without the king's consent. The bishops sided with the king, but Anselm would not give up his obedience to the Pope.